My Enemies' Enemy
by Crowdia
Summary: A successful Umbrella experiment decides to think on his own. What happens when he decides to leave the safety of the corporation's laboratories? Chapter two is up. Please R&R!
1. Dragons in the lair

My Enemies' Enemy

Disclaimer: I have been confined in Umbrella's main headquarters for seven months now and they have told me to write all this down or else they'd turn me into viral meat (literally!).  So I don't own anything they do, because…um…they own it!

Date: Thursday, January 14th, 20XX

Time: 14:00

Name: Gryfen, Kyle

Age: 27

Virus Type: NE-T[X] virus (Nemesis)

Anti-Virus: Dichromium Triphylene (still in testing)

Tests Records: Surgery

                  Chemical Therapy

                  Radiation

                  Placebo

Results: Contained virus.  Further experimentation 

    necessary.

"Kyle, Kyle," The voice was monotone and cold.  "Mr. Gryfen, it's time for your evaluation."

      The man became conscious, not opening his eyes but feeling the sensations around him.  His body was completely warm, weightless.

      "Mr. Gryfen, you need to awaken."

      He opened his eyes to stare through the mask at a man in a white coat.  The white clothed man responded to him, typing in codes on a panel close by.

      A hiss startled him as the liquid began to drain from his encasement through the floor.  Slowly he was lowered, along with the many devices and wires fastened to his nude skin.

      The weight of gravity began to press heavy on his feeble legs.  He fell against one side of the glass tube, using all his strength to keep himself stable.

      Another hiss opened the pressurized door, allowing more white-coated personnel to rush to his aid, freeing him from the mechanisms and slipping off his oxygen mask hurriedly.

      The rush of room air made him lightheaded, blurring his vision, his entire body falling limp.  Scientists quickly supported his lifeless frame, cautiously dragging him from his glass tank.  Chills slid across his body, causing him to convulse, his stomach jostling violently.  A gurgling noise came from his throat as he tried to swallow down whatever was rising up from his stomach.

      "Are you feeling satisfactory Kyle?"  The woman supporting his right side questioned impersonally.

      The black haired man swallowed again, trying to force out a word.  "D…D…D…" He stuttered through swallows of saliva and bile.  Turning to the woman, he tried to focus his eyes on her.

      "Dizzy!"  He finally spat out.  His stomach immediately collapsed.  The fluids rushed out of his mouth just as his speech had, spilling its contents all over the scientist next to him.  A cry of surprise resonated through his ears as he again blacked out.

Date: Sunday, January 17th 20XX

Time: 23:00

A masked redhead sat at a small cargo bay door, carefully picking away at its control mechanism.  Her long-sleeved, tight fitted shirt and like colored cargo pants seemed to envelope her in a strange mystery as she worked.  "C'mon you stupid piece of shit!"  She pulled a screw driver from her pocket with her gloved hand, beginning to prod the metal beneath the exposed wires.  After a few attempts, the lock mechanism shorted and the door casually swung away, allowing her to pass.

"I thought so," She muttered, nonchalantly entering through the doors, "Damn contraptions."  Once inside the base her body became more stealthy and alert.  She slid behind a box to avoid confrontations with security.  A wry smile crossed her lips.  She loved the adrenaline rush sabotage missions gave her.

Gingerly, she made her way through the storage hall and into a small bathroom, hurrying into a stall in the corner of the room.  Closing and locking the door, she sighed deeply, "This is strange," The thought had only occurred to her once into the stall, "Security is lax around here.  I thought there would at least be a few guards, especially in the cargo bay."  She shrugged it off, there were more things to worry about at present than that.  However, she kept it in the back of her mind.  Just as a precaution.

"Now where did I put that," the longhaired woman began patting her pant-legs, unsure of the location of her valuable.  She quickly shoved her hands in her pockets and smiled, "Trying to hide from me are ya?"  She pulled the screwdriver out of her pocket then gathered her knapsack up and placed it on her back.  She hopped up onto the toilet seat, unscrewing the ventilation screen.

The woman skillfully leapt into the small hole and refastened the duct back in place.  "Let's get this over with, I'm dying for some eats," She casually pulled a small eye-lens out of her other pocket and placing it over her face.  Fastening it to her head, she then switched it on, creating a 3-D map of the building in front of her.  She was ready to begin her crawl through the long maze of ducts before her.

"Mr. Gryfen," Kyle looked up from his bed to look at the blonde haired scientist standing in his doorway.  "We have need of your assistance if you are physically able."

"Why wouldn't I be?" He queried, walking over to his interrogator.

The white-coated man took a small step back, "Well Mr. Gryfen, what happened last time you were conscious indicates that you are not statistically in good condition."

Kyle raised an eyebrow, "You mean the throwing-up incident?"  He chuckled, "Joel, it wasn't that bad, some of the chemicals just didn't agree with me."

"Yes," The scientist replied sardonically, "Obviously the chemicals didn't agree with your bio-engineer either."  He lifted some papers on his clipboard, "It specifies here that she spent a day in the infirmary due to acid burns and chemical influxes."

Kyle blinked for a moment, unaware of all the happenings that had passed after his collapse.  "You mean my vomit did that to her?"

"Y…" The scientist cleared his throat nervously, "Yes."

"Wow, I'm so sorry about that.  Could I see her to make sure she's alright?"

"No."  The man replied densely, "That is not permissible.  We have a job we need you to attend to."

Kyle sighed a bit agitated by the man, "What do you want me to do this time.  And please, don't let it be another trash can run again, you don't know how much that formaldehyde gets to my sinuses."

The scientist again checked his clipboard and looked up at the amused test subject apathetically.  "This is not a trash can run Mr. Gryfen, this is much more serious.  An intruder has infiltrated the building.  We are not sure as to what end they are here, but we do know that they are headed for the Administrator's office at this moment."  He again looked up at the black haired man, "It is your task to immobilize them and to transport them to the restraining facility."

Kyle grinned broadly, "An actually training assignment.  I accept."

The scientist dropped the clipboard to his side, his blue eyes glaring at the man in front of him.  "This is not under your jurisdiction to accept or not Mr. Gryfen.  You will complete your task and report back to us as specified."  The scientist then left, giving Kyle time to prepare and leave.

"How rude," He grumbled, sliding a shirt over his head, "Someday.  You just wait and see, someday you won't be treating me like that."

He casually walked out of his cubicle and down the hall towards his destination, the Administrator's office.

"Almost there," Dragon thought, looking through a circulation grid.  Two guards caught her view and she smiled.  Even though she was supposed to be stealthy and unnoticeable, kicking the crap out of inflated security guards was always a favorite activity and very hard to resist.  "Should I be bad?"  She thought to herself, scanning the floor beneath her to see if there were any more of them.

Before she could react, a black-haired, lanky young man passed by them heading towards the same office she was.  His manner suggested that he was either the Administer himself or perhaps a high official, even though the scrubs he wore seemed a bit outlandish.

The redhead's grin broadened, "Well, it is Umbrella.  Things around here are pretty strange.  Besides, kidnapping a man of high rank would make this job a lot easier."  Without another thought, she continued toward her chief destination, chuckling at her luck the entire time.

Kyle had reached the room fairly quickly even though he hadn't been in the particular wing of the building for quite some time.  "That's progress," He laughed at himself, scanning the room for any disturbances, "How much memory have you actually retained since first coming here Kyle?"  

He hadn't remembered much once he'd arrived at the facility.  In fact, he couldn't even remember how long it had been since he began the experiments let alone what had happened before them.  He couldn't even tell if Kyle Gryfen was his real name or if it was just a name the scientists' had labeled him with.  "Either way," He thought to himself, "I need..."

A muffled squealing noise caught his attention, his eyes sliding straight up to the air duct in one corner of the room.  "Wow," He mused, walking up to the vent leisurely, "Whatever they did to my senses is amazing, I didn't even think I could detect sounds that faint."

Before another thought could process through his head, the grid fell heavy on his body, knocking him to the floor.

"Well, well," A feminine voice resonated from the tunnel above him, "You're even weaker than you look aren'tcha?"

The comment was an irritating jab at the lean man who wore exactly how he felt about it on his face.

"Tsk, tsk," The voice mocked, "Did I upset the little boy?"

"Come down here coward," He called up, throwing the grid off his body and leaping to an upright position, "and fight me instead of hiding up in your little safe-haven!"

"Come down?"  The voice seemed amused, "If you insist."

He clenched his fist, preparing for a delicate female figure to slide down to face him.  "This shouldn't be so tough," He considered, "A woman should be easy to beat, they are the weaker sex after all."  The figure quickly flashed above him, forcing a heavy pressure onto his stomach and throwing him back down to the floor again before he could even react.

"AW!"  The woman whined sarcastically, "You're no fun at all!  Are you really going to let yourself be defeated by a ventilation screen and one punch?"

Mr. Gryfen focused on the masked figure standing in front of him in complete shock.  She was not at all what he had expected.  Although she had a long red ponytail hanging from the open top of her mask, her muscular frame made her look so masculine.  "Are you a man or woman?"  He blurted out in confusion.

"What?"  The remark obviously provoked her to a point of violence as she lunged toward the scrawny man.  "You'll find out soon enough you bastard!"  She scolded, her fists doing most of the talking.

Kyle curled up into a ball as her hits ensued on him.  "I'm sorry!"  The man screamed out in pain as his body was kicked across the room.  Slowly he unrolled and lay stretched out on the floor.  "Stop it, I'm sorry!"

"Sorry?"  The muscular woman grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him up to her face, "You'd better be sorry bitch, or else I'll beat the hell out of you so bad you won't be able to tell what gender you are!"  She dropped the man's heavy body to the ground with a thud, her brown eyes piercing through him.

"What do you want from me anyway?"  He coughed, gradually picking his pained body off the floor.

A click was heard close to his ear, causing him to freeze all motions.  "I want you to help me."

"Or else what?"  Kyle queried in amusement.

"Or else I blow your brains out the other side of your head."

"Really?"

"Really."  She bumped the cold gun-barrel against his temple, "I may be a woman, but I'm not afraid of a little gore."

Kyle laughed, "You wouldn't."

"And why wouldn't I?"  The redhead interrogated without even a flinch.

A wormlike creature slithered up from Kyle's shirt, snatching the gun from the shocked girl and pulling it back into his clothing with it.  He opened his palm up to his hip, the gun casually dropping to greet it.  "Because I have your gun."

Confusion and disgust loomed over the woman's face.  "What the hell was that?"  She took a step back, not wanting to get near him.

He smiled, turning to face her.  "A little trick I picked up from being locked in this hell hole too long."

The woman was still confused, not sure at all what to make of the whole situation.  "So you're not the administrator of this research facility?"  She queried, not sure what else to say.

Kyle laughed, "No, although I wish I was at times."  He paused, looking down at the gun, "I'm just a test subject they use here, nothing more."

Understanding seemed to brighten up the woman's eyes, "Well, that does explain your odd choice of clothing." She remarked, pointing at the light blue scrubs he wore, "So you're a guinea pig here, huh?"

"Unfortunately," He sighed.

"Well," She quickly snatched her gun from his unsuspecting hands, "Sucks to be you doesn't it?"  With that she turned to the administrator's desk, stuck a disk inside the desk's computer, and began to fiddle with it.

"What?"  Kyle was shocked, "You mean you don't care?"

"Listen," The woman sighed, looking up from her work, "I feel sorry for you, I really do, but sympathy won't keep me alive or pay my bills.  I prefer to say 'to each his own' and leave it at that."  Another click of the keyboard began page after page of what looked to be gibberish to spill out of the computer's printer.  "Wow, this heist was easier than I thought, not even a password to protect it," She mused, shrugging the thought off and continuing her work.

"You're a real bitch you know that?"  Kyle scoffed, too angry to even move.

The woman popped the disk out of the computer then looked up at him and smiled, "I know."  She stuffed the information in her knapsack and headed for the air duct.  "Now if you'll excuse me, I have another errand to run in your little shop."

Finally he got enough strength up to grab onto her arm tightly.  "Where are you going?"

The woman looked at him angrily, "Where I want to go.  Now let go of my arm!"  She tried to release his grip without success.

"But I have a proposition for you."

She stopped and gave him an awry stare, "Proposition?  Now where are you going to get the money to hire me?  I don't work for cheap you know."

"But you'll be doing the world a favor if you accept," He remarked, his eyes staring at her hopefully.

She laughed, "I don't do favors for anyone but myself."  Without another word, she squeezed his wrist until his grip released her and sprung up into the shaft she'd recently come from.

"Wait!  Please!"

She wouldn't even listen to him; instead she began down the tunnels toward an unknown destination.

"Dammit!"  He cried, smacking a fist through the wall.  Suddenly a thought occurred to him.  She had told him that she had other 'shopping' to do in the laboratory.  If he could just find something that could seek her out then he could get her to listen to him.  He smiled maliciously, "And I know just the thing."


	2. Clash of the Titans

My Enemies' Enemy

Disclaimer: Umbrellas can be evil…watch out!

Date: Monday, January 18th, 20XX

Time: 1:30

Name: Dragon, Scarlet

Age: 23

Occupation: Mercenary

Current Employer: Unknown

Hired Job: Obtain Required Information

Mr. Gryfen burst into the storeroom, storming over to the weapons and rummaging through them hastily.

"Sir, excuse me sir," A guard queried, walking over to the peculiar man.  "Sir, can I please have your identification card?"  The guard laid a hand on Kyle's shoulder, causing him to stop and turn his brown eyes sharply.

"Look," He snapped, "I don't have a card, I'm a test subject in this facility can't you tell by the get-up?"  He pointed to his mangled scrubs, a harsh look on his face, "Secondly, all I want is infrared goggles, not weapons.  So could you either help me look or leave me alone?!"

The guard was taken back a bit, "Then who is your supervising doctor?" The guard timidly queried.

Kyle let out an agitated sigh, "Doctor Herbert Freng, now can I please have some goggles?"  Without another word he opened a box and placed a pair of goggles in Kyle's already outstretched hand.  "Thank you," Mr. Gryfen sighed, tightening his grip on the goggles.  He nodded at the guard and hurriedly jogged back to the administrator's office.

Quickly the goggles were placed over his head as he began fidgeting with the buttons to make it work.  "Come on, come on," He began to chant as his hands wandered across the goggles.  His finger touched a large button on the corner of the right lens and he pressed it eagerly.

"Yes!"  He chimed, beginning to examine the room with his newly acquired sight.  "Now she-hulk, where did you go, hm?"  Gradually he left the room, following the small trace of heat energy the girl's warm body had left in the metal shafts.  "My vision has become more acute too."  He thought, realizing that he would have never picked up such small traces of heat energy before the experimentations.

Suddenly, the sound of sliding cloth against metal caught his ear.  He turned around, scanning for any signs of human energy.  A smile crossed his face.  She was right above him heading straight into the cold room before them.

"Gotcha," He whispered.  He laughed softly, placing his hand on the identification panel, "She must be chilled by now."  The door slid open and he walked down into the rows of storage containers to wait for her arrival.

Dragon had been crawling for what seemed like an eternity.  She sighed, her lips were beginning to turn purple, and she could feel it.  "Almost there D," She thought to herself as the ventilation grid she had been searching for came into view.

She stopped, clicking a button on her map visor.  "Okay D, you know you bugged the security cameras in the office and cargo areas before you came.  But did it register into the labs too."  Another click revealed a stroke of good luck.  "Thank God it did," She sighed, "I don't have to go through the long process of tapping into this system too."

The redhead crawled over to the vent grid and scanned the floor for guards.  Cautiously she pulled a thin wire from her back pocket and attached it to her visor, threading the other end down through the vent to search what she couldn't see.

"What!"  She hissed once her scope picked up the same black-haired man from before, "Why's that freak show still following me?"  She moved back from the vent shaft, "He may have let me take those papers from the administrator's office, but I doubt he'll let me get a hold of a few serums."

She detached the wire scope from her visor, "Are there any alternatives?"  She rapidly began clicking the visor, looking for another strategy.

"Damn!  Out of options!"  She pulled out her empty gun, setting a tranquilizer clip in.  "Sorry guy, but I'm not letting you screw with my plans."  She set the gun with a click and slid the grid out of her way.

With one quick breath Dragon jumped from the vent, landing flatly on the ground.  She then aimed at the startled man and shot him square in the heart with her sedative.  Kyle fell over motionless.

"Poor bastard, more chemicals added to his already screwed system."  She felt a bit guilty, but shifted it to the back of her mind and proceeded to work on the nearest cold box.  Again she pulled a wire cable from her back pocket and plugged one end to her visor, the other to the boxes control panel.  She began repeatedly tapping the button on her visor until a beep was heard and the cold box hissed in release.

Dragon pulled the wire out of both contraptions and placed it back in her pocket.  "Easy as stealing candy from a baby," She mused, lifting the lid of the box.  Her smile widened, "Bingo."

Kyle pulled the tranquilizer cartridge out of his chest.  That had stung horribly and although it had not knocked him out, the pain had caused him to collapse.  "Well, at least she hadn't intended on killing me," He thought, sitting up from the cold, misted floor.  Looking up he noticed the redhead carefully placing vile after vile of toxins into her knapsack.

"What are you doing?"  He shouted, jumping to his feet.

His cry startled her almost to the point of dropping her pack.  She hastily turned to stare at him astonished, "How are you still awake?  I filled that with the strongest anesthetic there is."

"Obviously not strong enough," He scorned at her, moving closer.

Her surprise curled up into a smile as she laughed, "You really are a freak aren't you?"  Slowly she walked behind the cold box, facing him the entire time.

"Just like you," He countered nearing the storage unit.

She closed the lid of the container and looked up at him again.  "I need to get these out of here before the bug I stuck in those cameras up there is detected, so if you'll so kindly excuse me."

"Not until you do me a favor," He growled.

"I already told you!  No favors!"  She retorted.

"Then I'll just have to make your job a lot tougher."

The woman laughed, "And how are you going to do that?"

Slowly he leaned over the box, "I can turn you into a freak like me," He whispered softly.

She blinked at him, "You only wish."  With that she jumped up on the metal storage box and leapt to the ventilation mouth.  Before she could reach though, Kyle slung one of his tentacles at her, pulling her face first to the ground with a thud.

"Bastard!"  She screamed once landing, "I'll kill y…"

He lifted her from the floor with his gripping tentacle, swinging her upside-down by her foot.

"Let me go!"

He laughed at her in her unusual state, "Why should I?"

"Because," She sneered, becoming calm again.

"Because?"  He began to swing her back and forth sardonically.

Using the momentum he provided, the redhead pulled her body up to meet her ankles, fished out a hidden knife, and sliced off the end of his extra limb.  She somersaulted over and landed on her hands and feet in a push-up position.  "What now bitch?"  She mocked, watching him scream and writhe in his agony.

After hopping up and giving a taunting wave good-bye, she ran out through the door, shrugging off her previous stealth cameo.  The two had caused enough ruckus for at least someone to notice.  Hiding in the tunnels would only slow down the operation and make life more difficult for her.

After the pain had subsided, Kyle examined the end of his maimed tentacle.  It had already begun to heal although it still hurt like hell.  "Damn her," He whispered under his breath, "She's gonna pay for that one."  He pulled the extra limb into his shirt and rushed out the door.

After following the woman's heavy footsteps for some time, Mr. Gryfen turned a corner in just enough time to see the redhead lift herself from the floor, two lifeless guards lying at her feet and a smile smeared across her face.

"Enjoying yourself?"  He taunted, raising an eyebrow at her.

She winked, "Always," then bounded off down the hallway, Kyle quick to pursue her.

The chase didn't continue for long, for just as Mr. Gryfen turned the next corner of the twisted hall he nearly bumped into the woman, who had suddenly stopped in front of an operating room, her eyes fixated on the events inside.

Kyle immediately skidded to a halt, standing right next to her.  "What's wrong?"

The woman pointed inside, her face twisting into disgusted contempt.

He looked in at where she was pointing.  An unclothed man lay strapped to an operating table, his body thrashing back and forth, the leather straps across his body being the only thing keeping him put.  His wide eyes were glazed over in a stare of utter terror as if his mind had shut off all processes except for the impulse to survive.  Two scientists, one of them a middle-aged male with brown hair and the other one an older looking female with slightly dirty blonde hair, stood next to the pitiful man calmly.  They slowly jotted down notes then turned again to watch the tortured soul.  Although his screams were not very audible through the heavy glass windows, they were loud enough to elucidate the blood-curling pain and anguish he was experiencing and the volume at which the scientists were listening to it.

"What are they doing to that man in there?"

Kyle shrugged, "Probably experimenting with a new formula they whipped up."

Dragon swallowed, "And those scientists can just stand there calmly as that man screams?"

Again Kyle shrugged, placing his hands in his pockets, "I've always wondered that myself.  You have to think that after this kinda stuff they wouldn't be able to sleep at night."  He let out a dry chuckle and turned to the redhead again.

It was obvious that the image not only disgusted her, but it was making her blood boil.

"You alright?"  He queried, touching her shoulder.

She turned, "They did this to you too huh?"

"Well," He cleared his throat, "Not this particular experiment but something similar."

"I had no idea anyone could be so cruel."

He let out another dry laugh, "You don't know umbrella that well do you?"  She shot him a stern glare.  "Now you know why I want you to get me out of here, that's the favor I was asking you for."

She blinked, "That was the favor you wanted huh?"  She smiled wryly, "Sorry, no can do."

"What!"  He spat out, "I've given you a reason, now why can't you help me!"

"Not a good enough reason," Her gaze then dropped onto his hand gripping her shoulder.  Defiantly she swatted it off of her then, turning back toward the direction she had previously been headed, she proceeded casually as if nothing had even happened.

The action threw him over the edge and his anger became visible.  He smacked both his fists into the glass window of the laboratory, sending cracks slithering through the reinforced material.

Dragon swung completely around in utter shock.  Her eyes immediately falling on the glass that Kyle had just warped.  Her gaze then focused on the inside of the laboratory, the scientists had obviously noticed them; in fact they were headed in their direction.  "What did you do that for stupid!"  She reprimanded, swallowing her fear of the strange man before her, "Now not only do we have security after us we have two psycho doctors on our case!"

"What is going on out here?"  The male scientist interrogated as he held the lab door open.

Both Dragon and Mr. Gryfen turned, not sure what to say.

"Well?" The female interrupted, standing next to her co-worker, "What are your names?"

Kyle sighed loudly; now that these doctors had seen him there was no way he could escape without brutal force.  "My name is Kyle Gryfen from…"

Before he finished something hissed past his ear, landing in the woman's throat.  A second hiss sent an object into the man's heart as they both fell over without another word.

"What the hell?"  Kyle spun around to see Dragon placing her pistol back at her side, a smug grin on her face.

"They deserved that."

"But…but…but," Kyle sputtered, "You just killed them!"  He pointed down to their bodies sprawled across the floor.

"Yep," Dragon replied proudly, "I…" Looking down at the bodies cut her speech short.  "Dammit!"  She spat, leaning down to examine her shots, "I can't believe it!  My tranquilizer clip was still in the gun!"

Kyle let a sigh of relief, "At least they aren't dead."

"Well a corpse won't squeal on us!"  Dragon grabbed the woman by the chin, "Especially because of some brilliant idiot named Kyle Gryfen who decided to spill the beans to them!"  Pushing on the woman's opposing shoulder to support herself she threw the woman's head to one side swiftly.  A nauseating crack was heard that sent a chill up Kyle's spine.  His stomach clenched as he watched the scientist's chest cease to rise.  He didn't want to kill anyone, but the redhead woman's logic was unfortunately true, if she didn't kill them they'd file a report on him.

"Report!"  Recollection lit up Kyle's eyes.

"What are you talking about?"  Dragon yelled agitatedly, finishing off the second scientist.

"The experimental unit, he's still inside strapped to that table!"

"God!  You're not thinking about…" Dragon looked up, but it was too late, Mr. Gryfen had already rushed inside and was hurriedly releasing the squirming man.  "Stupid freak," She hopped up just in time to hear security guards turning the corner.  "AWWWW, hell!  Kyle, we've got company!"

Kyle could barely hear her scream as he focused on unfettering the bound man before him.  "Poor guy," he sighed looking into the man's forlorn eyes, "I've never even had to do something this horrific, at least, I don't remember doing it."  The man was beginning to calm down as his muscles began to relax and his breathing seemed to ease.  Kyle examined the man closely.  He was middle-aged, with blonde hair and blue eyes; a husky sized man with a dimpled chin and a very familiar looking face at that.  "No matter as of now," He sighed, heaving the disgruntled man onto his shoulder, "First things first, and that is to get us both out of here.  As long as that red-head finally agrees to help us."  He began heading for the door, oblivious to all around him except for the idea of escape from the horrid room.

A few shots echoed throughout the hall as he approached, halting him from his previous task of escape and sending his thoughts to other more pressing matters.  "Security tracked us, I knew it!"  He focused his sight to see outside the reflecting safety glass.

The masked woman was taking down guard after guard as they came at her repeatedly.  The sheer sight of her skill and power kept him dazzled for a few seconds before he realized that the shots had not been just from the female mercenary, but from security as well and had seemingly wounded her left shoulder harshly.

"And she still manages to fight like that?  Man, she's not an ordinary one now is she?"  He readjusted the weight of the subconscious man on his shoulder, "Even still I've got to do something to help her," He gazed around him, "But what?"

Whack!

Another three sentries lay on the floor unconscious, with three more to replace them on her heels.  "There's gotta be an end to these security guards, they can't just keep coming forever!"  The redhead mused avoiding another swing at her jaw.  Impact hit her injured arm, sending an immobilizing shock throughout her entire body.  She took a few painful steps back, "Dammit!  I slipped up," Four more fists were sent her way before she could recover from the critical blow, all of them sending her in a direction toward the wall.

She let out a cough as her body slammed heavy against the metal.  "D, this isn't like you at all, losing like this," She contemplated, clutching her injured shoulder.  "It's all because you were soft on that freak, you're getting too careless about your jobs D."  She evaded two more attacks, diving across the floor to grab one of the semi-automatics the guards had dropped.  She gritted her teeth as her wounded shoulder made contact with the ground and snatched up the weapon, skillfully aiming for a guard.

"Another one down."

Another two shots resonated throughout the hallway, sending the mercenary into a defensive mode.  She rolled across the floor and jumped to a standing position, aiming her semi in the shots direction.

"Don't shoot!"

Dragon lowered her gun at the sight before her.  Kyle stood shirtless, wide-eyed and trembling, with both hands in the air.  What stupefied the woman was the sight of him, over a dozen tentacles protruded from the black-haired man's exposed upper body.  His whole chest was distorted with large veins and swollen capillaries wrapping around his scrawny frame in which each tentacle escaped through.  From each extension dangled a now unconscious sentry.  However, the most prominent feature on his already distorted torso was a long, pink scar running from the top of his shoulder and slanting across to the opposite hip.  She lowered her gun, surveying the hall.  Obviously the spectacle had caused the other guards to flee, but for how long?

"You can drop your hands now."  The redhead sighed dropping the semi and grabbing her personal gun from the man before her.

Kyle heaved a deep sigh of relief as he dropped the other pistol to the ground.  "Thank god," He proceeded to drop the bodies from his tentacles each one making a disgusting thud as it hit the ground.  "I thought you were going to kill me too."

"Yeah well," She groaned, clasping her injured shoulder, "I almost did, but my shoulder cramped so I needed time to recover.  You're just lucky that it stung when it did."

Mr. Gryfen leaned over and seized his shirt from the floor, "Well, whatever your reason," He proceeded to slide it over his head, "I'm still alive and that's good."

The woman shrugged, "If you say so."

He gave her a glance before turning back into the laboratory to retrieve the unconscious man he'd previously been carrying, "Well, in any case, now that we've got security out of our way," He proceeded to hoist the test subject from against the corner of the laboratory wall back onto his shoulder, "Getting out of this joint shouldn't be that difficult."  He turned back around to look at the redhead only to find a vacant hallway, excluding the motionless bodies scattering the floor.

"I knew it!" He rushed out into the area, scanning for any sign of where she might have been headed.  A footstep quickly caught his acute ear, it sounded very heavy, as if the person were wounded.  He glanced in the direction which both of them had been heading before the whole situation had risen.  A spiteful grin crossed his face, "Think you can get rid of me that easily?"  He began down the hallway after her, "You really have no idea what you're dealing with."

Dragon sighed with relief as she trudged down the wide hallway toward her destination.  "The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel," She mused, looking up at the sign reading _Cargo Bay_ above a large set of double doors.  Pain reminded her of her wounded shoulder and she stopped to examine it carefully.  The blood had completely saturated her left sleeve and was beginning to soak into her glove as well as the chest area of her shirt.  "Not good," she shoved her hand into her pocket, "At least I didn't drip any blood yet to give them evidence."

She repeated her steps back to the laboratory window in her mind.  Her shoulder hadn't touched anything except for the floor when she'd grabbed up that gun, but that wasn't important, her blood had mixed with the fluids of the dead guard bodies so her DNA would be almost impossible to track.  "As long as I didn't drip any on the way here."  That thought gave her an impulse to retrace her steps.  However, the sudden recollection of that 'Kyle' man, who was probably still on her heels, sent her swinging back around to the cargo entrance.

"I better get ready for this, 'cuz it's not gonna be no joy ride."  She pulled out her gun, reloading the clip before proceeding into the large cavity behind the doors.

As soon as the door was opened enough for her to move through, she took the opportunity and rushed behind a large box, careful not to touch anything.  Her eyes moved rapidly, scanning her surroundings for any human activity.  Surprisingly, no guards were present in the large docking area.

"All clear so far D, let's just make it to the door and you'll be home free."  She slid behind another box closer to her destination, her liberation shining through the door only a few more leaps away.

A clumsy bang from the swinging doors she'd just entered caused her to recoil, hugging the floor with her heels.  "What the hell was…Kyle!"  She backed up.  "But, no.  Not now.  I'm almost out.  He'll break my cover for sure!"  Without hesitation the mercenary bolted for her exit, a tactic that fell short of successful as a long, cold tentacle wrapped around her wrist, jolting her to a stop.

"You're not leaving without us!"  Kyle's voice echoed harshly.

"Bastard!"  She hissed, trying to pull her gunned arm from his icy tentacle.  With no luck, she hurriedly grabbed for her knife, "Let go or I'll kill you!"

Kyle released her once the flicker of metal was seen from her boot, causing her to stumble back defensively.  "I'm not falling for that trick again!"

"It doesn't matter," She spat back, "You can leave this place if you want, I never cared!  But you're not following me, you understand that?"  Her head became faint after the screaming; perhaps she was working herself up about this too much.  She took a few steps back, trying to reorganize her thoughts.  "What the hell?"

"Are you okay?"  The experimental mutant took a step closer to her, his eyes filled with concern.

Dragon threw her gun up to meet him, "Stay back freak, I don't need your help!"  She glanced back up, focusing on a blonde man standing behind Kyle.  He was wearing only a lab coat from what she could see, his eyes wide with curiosity through his thick-rimmed glasses.  For some odd reason he amused her, and she began to laugh at the sight of both him and Kyle before her.

"You two are such a pair!"  She turned around, walking slowly to her destination, leaving the two in confusion.

Kyle shrugged once she had left him and his companion's presence.  "That was a bit odd."

"You can say that again," His blonde friend commented, "Talk about first impressions."

Before their conversation could finish, the black-headed experiment grabbed his friend and tugged them toward the path the mercenary had headed.  "Well, no time for chit chat now, we need to get out of here before she seals off our escape root."

"And then what?"

Kyle shrugged, "I guess we'll find out from there."

Dragon inhaled as she stepped into the cool dawn air.  "Done."  She walked out of the frame wearily, moving to the hot-wired control panel.  "All I need to do is…"

Her knees gave and she fell into the wall, gasping for another breath of air.  "What is wrong with me?  Why can't I focus?"

Again she lifted herself away from the deck and began to piece the wires together.  "Damn it D, get yourself together!"

Kyle threw himself out of the doorway, dragging his colleague with him into the dimly lit morning and smiled, "We're almost free."  He looked back at his equally satisfied partner as a sudden hiss closed the door behind them.

"Now you're stuck out here," A soft voice muttered next to them, "What are you going to do now freak, huh?"

Both men turned to see Dragon panting against the wall, her eyes dark, and her head resting against it.  She looked completely worn out.

"What's wrong?"  Kyle again queried, his sympathy amazing even his companion.

"Get out of here before you get me caught!"  The redhead stood up, aiming the gun at Kyle's head.  Before she even made it to her feet, the woman fell back to the ground, her blood immediately seeping into the soil beneath her limp body.

Kyle instinctively grabbed for her shoulder but retracted once he felt the saturated cloth.  "She's bleeding bad."  They both examined his red stained hand then lowered their eyes to the suffering woman.  She was unconscious; her body sprawled out at their feet.

"What do we do?"  Kyle gasped, bending down to shake the body.

"Pick her body up," His companion touched his shoulder sympathetically, "I'll take care of her.  But first let's find a safer place to operate then right in front of the dragon's lair."

"Good idea."  He hauled the body onto his shoulders; using his foot to erase her blood stains from the earth, "Let's get to a safer location.  Do you know where the nearest town is?"


End file.
